if the mountain won't come to Muhammad
if the mountain won't come to Muhammad proverb: if something one wishes to be done cannot be commanded to be done, one must find another way to achieve one's goal.
Proverb
if the mountain won't come to Muhammad
- If something one wishes to be done cannot be commanded to be done, one must find another way to achieve one's goal.
- It was obvious that, if Opec was going to survive much longer, it had to be taken seriously by the world’s major oil companies. So Yamani decided, if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, Opec had somehow to impose its presence on the oil companies.1988, Jeffrey Robinson, “The Birth of Opec and the Rise of Yamani”, in Yamani: The Inside Story (Biography/History), New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, published 1989, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 54
Forms of if the mountain won't come to Muhammad
| alternative form | if the mountain won't come to Mohammed |
|---|---|
| alternative form | if the mountain won't come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain |
| alternative form | as the mountain could not wait upon Mahomet, Mahomet would go to the mountain |
Origin of if the mountain won't come to Muhammad
An ellipsis (anapodoton) of the apocryphal phrase "if the mountain won't come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain," coined in a story by Francis Bacon (1561–1626) Details The earliest appearance of the phrase is from Chapter 12 of the Essays of Francis Bacon, published in 1625: Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers, for the observers of his law. The people assembled; Mahomet called the hill to come to him, again and again; and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit abashed, but said, If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill. It was published in John Ray's 1670 book of English proverbs, The more complete reading of the essay makes it clear that Sir Francis Bacon meant the example to be disparaging, as he refers to “…mountebanks for the natural body, so are there mountebanks for the politic body…" in the context of his discussion “of boldness”, or what might be described in modern, political terms as brazening out a scandal or failure. Although the phrase is widely associated with Muhammad, the 6th-century prophet of Islam who lived in Arabia, there is no written...
Questions about if the mountain won't come to Muhammad
- What does if the mountain won't come to Muhammad mean?
- If the mountain won't come to Muhammad means if something one wishes to be done cannot be commanded to be done, one must find another way to achieve one's goal.
- What part of speech is if the mountain won't come to Muhammad?
- If the mountain won't come to Muhammad is a proverb.
Words near if the mountain won't come to Muhammad in the dictionary
- if that don't beat all
- if that's not
- if the cap fits
- if the cap fits, wear it
- if the mountain won't come to Mohammed
- if the mountain won't come to Muhammad
- if the mountain won't come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain
- if the shoe fits
- if the shoe fits, wear it
- if there ever was one
- if there ever were one
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: if the mountain won't come to Muhammad (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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